The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I went to see “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” in theaters on Oct. 27. It was directed and written by Stephen Chbosky, who also wrote the book the movie came from. This movie stars Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller. I was expecting this to be a good movie, and it was even better than I was imagining it to be.

Charlie (Lerman) is a freshman in high school. He’s trying to make friends while also dealing with his mental illness and his best friend’s suicide. Two seniors, Sam (Watson) and Patrick (Miller), befriend him and guide him through a difficult life, something they all have in common.

The plot of this movie was really good. It was so much more interesting than the trailers showed. I haven’t read the book either, so I didn’t know much of the storyline before seeing the movie. The movie takes you on a journey through Charlie’s life as it happens during this period. It doesn’t provide much background information until it comes up in his current life situation. It feels a lot like meeting a new person. The person doesn’t tell you his or her important background information right away; you learn about it as it becomes important to what is going on at the time. I think having the writer as the director helped the story develop in the way Chbosky saw it, and presented the movie as he wanted it to be conveyed to an audience. Since Chbosky wrote it, he understands it more than anyone else could have, and that’s why the movie is so effective.

Another great part of the movie is the excellent acting. I believed that the actors had experienced the difficult things their characters had to deal with in their lives. They are really horrific things, and the actors completely immersed themselves in the roles. I felt for each one of them. Something that pulls the audience in and makes it feel something is a great way to determine the success of a movie.

There were also some interesting visuals throughout. Hazy flashback scenes are shown as Charlie sees intense memories as part of his mental illness. When he blacks out, the scene builds, goes black and instantly picks up at a different moment after the episode passed. It’s so realistic to what you would actually see if that happened to you. More effects are used to show his experience on drugs.

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” has some great music too. Music plays an important part in the story and therefore, plays a big role in the movie. The music is really good and is used effectively to add to the tone in the scenes.

I didn’t know many of the people involved in this movie very well except for Watson, who I saw in “Ballet Shoes” and everyone knows as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films. This is the only thing I’ve seen Miller in. The only other thing I have seen that Chbosky was involved in is “Rent”, which he wrote the screenplay for. I had only seen Lerman in “Gamer” before this movie. Even though the main people involved in this movie haven’t done a lot of things, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is great, and you should see it.